UT Students to Raise Funds for Families of 9/11 Victims on Sunday, Sept. 11

KNOXVILLE — Public relations students at UT Knoxville are marking the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks with a book sale to benefit families affected by global terrorism.

The students are hosting a fundraiser from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 11, at Barnes & Noble, 8029 Kingston Pike.

Lisa Fall, associate professor of public relations in the College of Communication and Information, said the funds her students raise will benefit “Tuesday’s Children,” a non-profit group that provides mental-health counseling, coping skills, and life management support to the survivors and affected family members of the September 11 attacks and other terrorist incidents around the world.

“The work that Tuesday’s Children does is incredible,” Fall said. “The students are spending all semester promoting the organization, and Sunday’s fundraiser hopefully will give them a chance to see how their industry can help make a difference in peoples’ lives.”

During the fundraiser, Barnes & Noble will donate a portion of all book sales to “Tuesday’s Children,” and visitors are encouraged to purchase a copy of “The Legacy Letters – Messages of Life and Hope,” a compilation of letters written by 9/11 family members to the loved ones they lost that day.

Before the semester began, Fall read an excerpt from one of the letters in the book.

“It was a letter written by a young woman to her father,” Fall said. The girl was eight years old when her father died in the World Trade Center. In the letter she was about to graduate high school and wanted to put into words everything she never got to tell her father.

“After reading that letter, and then visiting the ‘Tuesday’s Children’ website, I realized that this is the perfect organization for which my students can raise money and, at the same time, honor the families who lost so much in the 9/11 attacks.”

Fall said that service-learning projects such as these enable students to give back to the community while getting real-world, hands-on experience in their chosen field.

Other events during the Sunday fundraiser include readings by UT students who represent an array of campus organizations, face painting for children and a visit from Smokey and Chilly, the Knoxville Ice Bears hockey team mascot.